Kremlin: No plans for Putin to meet Erdoğan

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday rejected an offer to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan while both leaders are in Paris for the COP21 climate change conference.

“No meeting with Erdogan is planned,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Agence France-Press. “There is no discussion of such a meeting.”

Amid mounting tensions, Erdoğan requested the meeting Friday with the Russian president to discuss Turkey’s shooting down of the Russian Su-24 fighter bomber last week. Turkey has refused to apologize for the plane because it was violating Turkish airspace, but Russia contends the jet was over Syria when it was struck.

Ankara has returned the body of a Russian pilot killed in the downing of the jet, and Erdoğan conceded Thursday that “had we known it was a Russian plane we may have acted differently.”

“We need to talk about what happened,” Erdoğan said, “but Putin has not returned my call.”

The climate change conference in Paris was an opportunity for the two leaders to meet face-to-face, but the Kremlin continues to ratchet up the pressure on Turkey. Russia still plans to halt visa-free travel between the two countries, effective January 1, and Putin on Saturday signed into law a package of economic sanctions.